Guardian Signs: Tracks of Light
by Annabelle Jones
Summary: Sparkette and Keith are ready for a peaceful trip to the Oblivia Region. But that does not mean it's actually going to happen. Follow Sparkette and Keith in their new adventure to the Oblivia Region! My take on Pokemon Ranger: Guardian Signs. Sparkette and Keith are from Shadows of Almia. Rated T because I'm paranoid. Also I'm bad at summaries.
1. Prolouge

**Hello, people, and welcome to my Guardian Signs story!**

**A few things before we begin...**

**This is a sequel to my Shadows of Almia story. You don't have to read it to understand this one, but it might help with the characters. **

**I'm not using Ben and Summer. Sorry**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. ****Unfortunately**

**Read, Review, and Enjoy!**

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"Come on, slowpoke! Hurry up!" I shouted, smiling at my idiot friend, Keith.

"Can't you slow down?" Keith demanded. "Your Staraptor is faster than mine! It's not fair!"

I laughed. "Now why would I do that? You were the one who turned this into a race! See you on Renbow Island, idiot!"

With those last words, I zoomed away from my friend. I heard him call after me, but I didn't care. I was so going to win this race. I was awesome at flying. Much better than Keith. I loved it so much! It was also a gorgeous day, which always helped. I was excited to go to the Oblivia Region with Keith. It had been a year since Operation Brighton, and life was kinda boring. No exciting missions. I hoped the Oblivia Region would give us some excitement! I really needed it. And this was going to be fun, too, since I was with Keith. Everything was fun with him.

"Just give up already!" a male voice shouted from somewhere nearby, cutting into my thoughts. "Do you really think you can get away?" I turned to see a couple of people on weird flying things chasing a red Pokemon. Wait… what was that Pokemon? It looked like a Latias, but that was impossible! What would Latias be doing here? It was a legendary Pokemon. Maybe that was why the people were chasing it…

"You just don't know when to give up, do you?" the female of the pair sighed. The two flew closer to Latias and started to shot green orbs at it. Latias dodged them easily, but it looked like it was getting tired. I had to do something.

"Hey!" I shouted. "Stay away from Latias!"

The people turned to me in shock. Latias took the opportunity to fly away. Good, got that dealt with pretty quickly. "Who are you?" The male demanded. Really? Wasn't it obvious? I was wearing the uniform and everything...

The girl scanned me, then her eyes widened. "Red goggles, yellow scarf… you're a Pokemon Ranger!" Thank you! At least one of them got it!

"Oblivia is very peaceful, we don't need a Ranger like you!" the male shouted.

"This is how we deal with unnecessary trash!" the girl said. "With a Plasma Cannon!"

The girl shot a few orbs from her cannon at me. I dodged all of them easily. "A Plasma Cannon, huh?" I said. "That's a little bit extreme, don't you think?"

"No, but maybe this is!" the male said. "Let's see if you can handle our double-team attack!"

More cannons? Oh well. Once again, I dodged all of their attacks easily, mainly because the two people had no teamwork. They were just shooting randomly, and didn't really pay attention to what the other person was doing. I was glad they were so easy to dodge, because Keith would have freaked out if I got hurt by these clowns.

"Oh no!" the male shouted after a few minutes of dodging. "My battery's dead!"

"Mine too!" the girl exclaimed. "Scaring our target with wild firing might not have been the best idea…"

"Oh, so that's what you were trying to do?" I asked. "It didn't really work well. You guys need to work on your teamwork."

"We don't need to hear that from our enemy!" the girl shouted. "I guess our only option now is to ram her!"

That would be slightly annoying. I braced myself for impact, but I wasn't really worried. Keith should catch up any second now. I didn't leave him that far behind. At least, I hoped I didn't.

"Hey, let's at least make this a fair fight first!" a familiar voice shouted from behind me. I smiled as Keith flew in beside me.

"Hey, what took you so long?" I asked, smiling at the idiot.

"Well, it's not my fault you ditched me!" Keith said, grinning at me.

"Well, if you weren't so slow, then maybe…" I started.

"So I'm guessing these are the Pinchers we've been looking for?" Keith asked, interrupting me.

"I guess so," I replied. "It's amazing they seem to be even stupider than-"

"What are we supposed to do now?" the female Pincher exclaimed, interrupting me. So inconsiderate. I was talking to my friend, here! "Our batteries are dead, Rangers keep popping up, and Latias got away!" Wow, did they just notice that? Latias flew away like five minutes ago.

"I hate to say it, but it looks like we have to retreat!" the male replied.

"Now, there's no need for that," a calm voice said. A guy on a red flying thingy came into view. He had blonde hair with one red streak that matched his cold, red eyes perfectly. "We have one more on our side, too."

"Leader, these kids are Pokemon Rangers!" the female shouted. She said that like it was the worst thing in the world, like she couldn't even stand the thought of Pokemon Rangers.

"I can see that," the red guy replied. "I'm not an idiot. Although, I've never seen flying Rangers before."

"Who are you?" I demanded. "And what do you want with Latias?"

"The name's Red Eyes," he replied. Was that a code name or something? That couldn't have been his real name. "And, to answer your second question, it's none of your business. I'm not telling our plans to couple of flying brats. You two are just a joke."

"So we're the joke, huh?" Keith said, glaring at Red Eyes. "At least we're not the leader of a team who can't even handle a couple of 'brats'!"

Red Eyes laughed. "Maybe my team can't, but I can," he said, smirking. "I have a perfect game for an insolent little brat like you. Skydiving… without a parachute!" Oh no.

"What?" Keith said. He didn't get it. But I did. Red Eyes sent multiple pink plasma orbs at my friend.

"Keith!" I shouted. Without thinking, I swerved in front of Keith. Immense pain flooded through me when the orbs made contact. I was knocked off Staraptor, who flew away in fright.

"Sparkette!" Keith screamed. He made a move to fly after me, but the two Pinchers grabbed him, stopping him. Red Eyes was smirking at Keith as he struggled to break free. That image was stuck in my head until I hit the water, and everything went black.

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**I'll try to update soon. It's finals week and a lot is happening.**


	2. Welcome to Oblivia

**Hello, people! We're finally back with the first chapter of Guardian Signs!**

**Read, review, and enjoy!**

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The world was in a blur. It felt like I was just watching things happen instead of actually living through it. My mind was too focused on Keith to care about anything else. I left him all alone with that jerk! Why did I do that? What was I thinking? Actually, I probably wasn't thinking. There wasn't time to think! Keith was in danger! But now he could be in even more… what was I going to do?

The next thing I actually remembered was waking up on a beach. My hair and clothes were soaked from falling into the ocean. The sky was dark. It had been at least a few hours since the incident with Red Eyes. I prayed it hadn't been more. I needed to find Keith before it was too late to help him. I really hoped it wasn't already too late.

It was very hard to move. Everything still hurt from when Red Eyes attacked us. Luckily nothing seemed to be broken. I started to walk around groggily. I hated being alone. I really missed Keith. Without really thinking about it, my hand reached up to fiddle with my necklace. Keith gave it to me. At least I didn't lose everything.

I wandered around the beach for what felt like hours. Other than a few palm trees, the beach was completely empty. There weren't even any Pokemon around. Where was I?

I glanced at my styler, which was slightly looser than usual. I kind of wondered why, but I didn't really care. According to the map, I was at some place called Dolce Island in the Oblivia Region. However, the map seemed to be the only thing that was working on my styler. I couldn't even try to call Keith, or the Union. Maybe it was damaged by the sea water? Or the impact from the fall? I hoped it wouldn't effect my captures. I didn't know when I would be able to get it fixed.

I found a dirt path on the north side of the beach. As I walked down it, I couldn't stop thinking about Keith. Was he going to be alright? Did he escape Red Eyes? Did they send him hurtling into the ocean, too? Or did they take him prisoner? I didn't know which was worse.

The trees thickened as I walked down the path. There were still no Pokemon or people around. It was really freaky.

Suddenly, something cried out from somewhere behind me. I whirled around to find a small yellow Pokemon standing in the middle of the clearing. A Pichu! It had a little blue ukulele on it's back. It was so cute! But... why was it glaring at me? What did I do?

"Hi there, little guy!" I said. "What's wrong?"

Well that obviously didn't help! The small Pokemon sent a blast of electricity my way, which somehow didn't seem to damage the ukulele. I barely managed to dodge.

"Hey!" I exclaimed. "Knock it off!" The Pichu growled at me. I sighed, and readied my styler. I really hoped it would work. Something was definitely wrong with it. I guessed the fall and the sea water damaged it.

Luckily, the styler actually worked. I managed to capture the Pichu. However, there was one problem. Power Charge wasn't working. Which was a slight problem. I needed to get this thing fixed. I really hated technology sometimes…

The Pichu smiled at me, and pulled out it's ukulele. He let out little bursts of electricity, and the ukulele made a twanging sound with each bolt. It was as though the Pichu was playing the ukulele! I smiled. This was adorable! I couldn't wait to show… Keith. He would've loved this… I missed him so much… what was going to happen to him? Would he be alright? I was so worried…

The Pichu seemed to notice my sudden change in attitude. It walked over to me, and tugged on my sock, then continued to play his ukulele. I patted his head, and forced a smile. The Pichu seemed satisfied, and leapt for joy.

"Uke! You're okay!"

What? Another person!

I turned to see a man running down the path. He had white hair, and wore a pink shirt with a blue vest. He actually kinda looked like Mr. Woodward from Vientown. He ran straight past me, and over to the Pichu. He then looked around.

"Hm? Where are all your other Pichu friends?" he asked. The Pichu let out a sad cry. Oh no… what happened here? "So you don't know, huh?" the man sighed. "Who were those folks that showed up on UFO-lookin' things, anyway?" UFOs? Was he talking about the Pinchers? Maybe I could get them to tell me where Keith is! I have to find them!

"Um, excuse me!" I said. The man looked up at me. "But what do you mean by UFOs?"

"Oh!" the man exclaimed. "Who might you be?"

Ugh, that really wasn't important right now. I didn't need to talk to people, I needed to find the Pinchers! People were not what I needed. I needed Keith. And the Pinchers should know how to get to him. But, I didn't want to be rude, so I said, "My name is Sparkette. And thi- and I'm a Pokemon Ranger. I just washed up on this island."

I smiled as the Pichu ran over to me and hugged my leg. It was really adorable! This Pichu was so cute!

The man laughed. "It looks like Uke's taken a shine to ya! My name is Booker. I live on Renbow Island. Do you mind explaining what you mean by washed up?"

I stared at the ground. "Can we not go into that?" I mumbled. I was not ready to talk about it yet. My mind had left me with several worst case scenarios, all of which just made me more worried. Keith was my best friend. And I couldn't live without him.

Booker walked over to me. "You look like you've been through a lot," he said. "How about coming to spend the night at my place?"

"No!" I shouted. Booker shrunk back from me a bit. "I have to keep moving. I don't have time to stop!"

"Well then, have fun getting to Renbow Island on your own!" Booker said. He started to walk toward the bridge. I sighed. Renbow Island is where we wanted to go in the first place. I had to go for Keith.

"Wait," I said. "I'll come with you. I may not be able to stay for too long, though."

Booker smiled. "Very well. I have a boat ready over here. Let's go Sparkette." I nodded, and Booker and I walked toward the beach.

"Welcome to Renbow Island, Sparkette!" Booker said cheerfully, as the boat pulled into the dock. Finally! It took way too long to reach this stupid island. Booker actually lost his first boat. He forgot to tie it to the dock. That sounded like something Keith would do… I really missed him. I had to find him before it was too late.

I think getting the spare boat took a lot longer than the actual trip. Renbow Island and Dolce Island were connected by a narrow straight. I was glad it wasn't that far. I didn't know how much more of this stupidity I could deal with.

Uke also delayed us a little bit. He decided that he wanted to come with us. I don't know why. But I really didn't care. His ukulele playing helped lighten my spirits.

Booker helped me off the boat, and I carried Uke off. He was really adorable, and he kinda reminded me of Pachirisu. I missed her as well; she'd stayed with my sister. Ugh, I had to stop thinking about these things!

"My house is this way," Booker said. "Let's stop there for a while."

"Do we have to?" I asked. "I really need to keep moving. There is something very important I need to do."

"More important than sleep?" Booker said. I nodded. Keith was more important than anything. "What about dinner, then? You look like you haven't eaten in a while."

I shook my head, saying, "I'm not hungry." Then my stomach grumbled. Very loudly. "Okay, maybe I'm a little bit hungry…"

Booker laughed. "Come on," he said. "My house isn't too far from here."

I sighed. I really was not going to get out of this, was I? I nodded, and Booker lead me down the path. Uke decided to come with us. At least he actually got a choice.

On the way to Booker's house, a few kids ran up to us. Two boys, one with blue hair and one with brown, and a girl with reddish hair.

"Welcome back, Booker!" the blue haired boy exclaimed, grinning like an idiot.

"Oh, hello, Ralph," Booker said. "You're looking nice and dirty. Full of energy as usual, I see."

The boy laughed. "Aw, Booker! You're embarrassing me! That's a weird compliment, by the way." The boy's eyes then flickered to me. "Huh?" he said. "Who are you?"

"My name is Sparkette," I said. "I'm a Pokemon Ranger from the Almia region."

The three kids ran up to me. "That's so cool!" the other boy exclaimed. "But why is you're uniform different?"

"I guess it's because I'm a Top Ranger," I replied. "This is actually a pretty new uniform, so I don't know why it's different."

"Is that why your styler is different, too?" the girl said. I nodded.

"Her uniform may be a bit off, but there is no doubt in my mind that Sparkette is a Pokemon Ranger," Booker said. "I even saw her do the whirly thingy with my own eyes!" Wait, when?

The blue haired boy stared at me, his eyes sparkling. "You mean a capture? That's so cool! I wish I got to see it…"

"Maybe I could show you sometime," I said.

The boy smiled. "That would be awesome! My name is Ralph, by the way."

"I'm Frank," said the other boy, waving at me.

"And I'm Tina!" the girl finished. "Hey, what is Uke doing here? He doesn't come to Renbow Island that much."

"That's not important, Tina!" Ralph exclaimed. "Let's go tell everyone a Ranger has arrived!" The other two kids nodded, and the three of them ran back into town.

Booker turned to me. "Ralph is a very reliable boy," he said. "If you ever need help with something, you should ask him. Anyway, let's keep moving."

I nodded, and Booker lead me across the beach to a cabin. I assumed this was his house. We walked inside to find a boy with green hair waiting for us.

"Boss!" he exclaimed, running over to Booker. "Welcome home!" That's when he noticed me. Why was I always the last person to be noticed?

"Who's she?" he asked. "Oh no… could it be? Disillusioned with being a Ranger, she's come to ask to be your new apprentice! Then, moved by these words, you decided to take her in? If that's the case, I'm no longer needed, so it's pack your bags and hit the road, right? Boss! How could you do that to me?"

"Sparkette didn't do any of that!" Booker exclaimed. "If you don't have anything better to do than dream up lame stories, why don't you hurry and get our guest something to eat!" I really didn't need this. What I needed was to go look for Keith. But unfortunately, it looked like that wasn't going to happen tonight.

The green haired boy sighed, and ran into another room. Booker sat down at a long rectangular table. "Have a seat, Sparkette," he said. I nodded, and sat down across from him.

"So, who is that boy?" I asked, after a slightly awkward silence.

"That is Nick, my apprentice," Booker replied. "He has a wild imagination, and is always worrying about the most foolish things. Because of that, work gets interrupted all the time."

There was another silence. "I've been wondering, what brings you to Oblivia, Sparkette?" Booker asked. "And why were your clothes soaking wet when we first met?"

"I don't really want to talk about it," I said, staring blankly at the table. I honestly didn't think I was ready to talk about it. Nick then joined us, and brought with him a tray full of sandwiches. He then sat down on the other side of Booker.

"Please tell us," Booker said. "We're curious."

I sighed. Booker was really persistent! So I reluctantly explained what happened that day, or at least I hoped it was that day. The meeting with Professor Hastings, Keith and I racing to the Oblivia Region, rescuing Latias, and everything that happened with Red Eyes. I still couldn't believe that last one happened. I was separated from Keith. And now I might never see him again.

Almost all the food was gone by the time I finished my story. I was staring into my empty cup. I couldn't stop thinking about Keith. What was going to happen to him?

"I'm sorry about your friend..." Booker said, sympathetically.

"So you don't know what happened to him?" Nick clarified. I nodded slowly. "Oh no!" Nick exclaimed. "What if the bad guys captured him? They've probably got him tied up in some cell, or what if they-"

"Shut up!" I shouted, leaping up from my seat and sending my empty cup to the ground. Both Nick and Booker stared at me in shock. "I'm already worried enough! I don't need your silly daymares!" Tears sprang to my eyes. What if Nick was right? Keith could've be tied up in some cell, while I was here, safe and protected.

"S-sorry," Nick stuttered. "I didn't mean to worry you..." Okay, that made me feel bad.

"It's fine," I assured, forcing a smile. I slowly sat back down. "I'm sure Keith will be fine."

I was encouraging myself more than Nick. Keith was the idiot who always threw himself into danger. I needed to find him before he did something really stupid. Knowing Keith, though, it might have already been too late.

"Hey, where's Uke?" Booker said, effectively changing the subject. I looked around. The little electric Pokemon wasn't anywhere in sight. I wondered where he went...

"That's strange..." I said. "I thought he was right behind me."

"Well, I wouldn't worry about him too much," Booker said. "You should get some sleep, Sparkette. You've had a long day. Nick can show you to the spare room."

"Okay," I said quietly. "Goodnight."

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**I'll try to update asap. I'm officially writing three different stories right now, and this one isn't too high on the priority list. Sorry**


	3. Rasp Cavern

**OMA, an update? After about a month? Sorry for the long wait! I kinda haven't been on fanfiction in forever. Been busy with life.**

**This chapter is a lot longer than I thought it would be. So I guess that kinda makes up for not updating in forever? Maybe? **

**Please read, review, and enjoy!**

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"Booker! We've got big trouble!"

I was sitting at Booker's table, eating breakfast, when Ralph ran into the cabin.

"Oh, hello Ralph," Booker said, walking over to the young boy. "What happened? Did your mom catch you playing tricks again?"

"No, that's not it!" Ralph exclaimed. "It's even worse than that! The UFOs are back!"

UFOs? He must have meant the flying thingys the Pinchers had! I needed to check this out.

"Where are they?" I demanded, standing up from the table. Ralph seemed shocked at my presence.

"Um, I think they went toward Rasp Cavern, Ranger," he said.

"Thanks!" I said. I started to run out of the cabin, but then stopped when I realized I had no idea where I was going. "Um, where's Rasp Cavern?"

Booker laughed. "Ralph, do you think you could take Sparkette to Rasp Cavern?"

Ralph smiled. "Sure thing, Booker!" he said. "So, Sparkette, I've been wondering, why did you come to the Oblivia Region?"

"Well, you guys only have one Area Ranger, and there are some bad guys, so Professor Hastings sent me and another Ranger, Ke…" I trailed off at the mention of Keith. I really missed him. That's why I was so determined to find the Pinchers. They might know what happened to him.

"Wow, there's another Ranger with you? That's so cool! I want to meet him!" Ralph said. Then he noticed my downcast expression. "Oh… something happened, didn't it? I'm sorry…"

"Don't be," I said, staring at the ground. "It's not your fault. It's mine. I should've, I dunno, helped him or something."

"Now that's not true, Sparkette!" Booker said, giving me a reassuring smile. "You did more than enough. I'm sure Keith doesn't blame you. If anything, he's probably more worried about you."

"Right…" I sighed.

Ralph started tugging on my sleeve. "Hey, Sparkette," he said. "Wanna go beat up some bad guys now? It could help cheer you up."

I forced a smile. "You're right," I said. "Let's go."

Ralph nodded, and lead me out of the house and through a small village. I'm sure if we were in a different situation he would be telling me all about the town, but I think he could tell I didn't really care at that point.

Ralph and I ran through a dark forest. There still weren't any signs of the Pinchers. "So, Ralph," I said. "When did you see the UFOs?"

"Oh, last night," Ralph replied. I stopped short.

"What?" I exclaimed. "Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"Well, I told Arley about it," Ralph said. "He's really strong, so I thought he could deal with it. But when he didn't come back, I got worried and decided to tell Booker about it. I didn't know where you were."

"Well, I'm glad you found me," I said. "Let's just hope the Pinchers haven't gotten away by now." Ralph nodded.

We continued walking through the forest. After a few minutes, the path opened up into a clearing. I gasped. In the back of the clearing, there were two Pokemon Pinchers, a male and a female, standing in front of the entrance to a cave.

"Ralph, hide!" I whispered, pulling the boy behind a bush.

"What's going on?" he asked.

I shushed him. "Just listen." Ralph nodded, placing a hand over his mouth. I smiled.

"I wonder how things are going with the secret team in the cave…" the male of the duo said. Secret team? Well, I guessed it wasn't so secret anymore!

"Who knows?" the female replied. "But it doesn't really matter. Our job is to guard the entrance. You shouldn't be thinking about anything else."

The male sighed. "I know… But guarding the cave is so boring! Nothing ever happens!"

As if on cue, Uke suddenly ran into the clearing. Wait, where did he come from? Oh well. Anyway, Uke glared at the Pinchers, and let out a growl.

"What's with this thing?" the male said. "It's got a ukulele on it's back. Like it could actually play…"

"Wait a second…" the female mused. "I've seen this Pichu before! It got away from me back at Dolce Island!" What? When were the Pinchers at Dolce Island?

"Do you think it chased us here because we caught its friends?" the male said. Oh no! The Pinchers took Pichu's friends, too?

"Do Pokemon even feel friendship?" the female said. "It's a little unbelievable, but whatever. I can take you to your friends again, if you want. So just stand still, and let me pinch you."

Not on my watch! "Hey!" I shouted. "Stay away from Uke!" Completely ignoring Ralph's complaints, I ran into the clearing. The two Pinchers turned to me in shock.

"Huh? A Pokemon Ranger?" the female exclaimed.

"But I thought there was just one old Ranger in Oblivia!" the male said. "Well, I guess we'll just have to get rid of the extra."

I sighed. "You know, I really don't have time for this. I'm going into that cave, and there is nothing you can do to stop me."

Before the Pinchers could even do anything, I ran into the cave, followed closely by Ralph and Uke. Ralph stopped me when we got inside. Uke ran ahead of us.

"Who were those people?" he asked.

"Those were the bad guys I was talking about earlier," I said. "They call themselves the Pokemon Pinchers. And they kidnapped Keith."

"Is Keith the other Ranger you were talking about earlier?" Ralph said. I nodded. "You really seem to care about him."

"Well, he's not just some random Ranger," I said.

"Then what is he, your boyfriend?" Ralph teased.

"No!" I exclaimed. My face went red. "He's just a really good friend."

Ralph laughed. "Sure…" he said. "Anyway, we should get moving. I'm pretty worried about Arley. He's strong, but he's also old. Like, really old."

"I'm sure he really appreciates you saying that," I said, sarcastically.

Ralph laughed feebly. "Oh well. He's not here right now. And, you won't tell him I said that, right?"

I smiled. "Of course I won't," I said. "Let's keep moving."

Ralph nodded, and we continued walking through the cave. Ralph was really growing on me. If I had a little brother, I would want him to be like Ralph.

"I've told you not to go in there!" a gruff voice exclaimed. I turned to the sound of the voice. A man, who wore all green and had white hair, was blocking the path. The person, or Pokemon, I guess I should say, he was blocking the path from was Uke. Ralph and I ran over to him.

"Arley!" Ralph exclaimed. This was Arley? "I'm so glad you're okay!"

"Ralph?" Arley said. "What are you doing here? I've told you at least a thousand times to not come in here! It's too dangerous! And who's this girl?" I really should have gotten a nametag or something.

"My name is Sparkette," I said. "I'm a Pokemon Ranger."

"When you didn't come back, I got really, really worried!" Ralph said. "So I asked for some help, and we came here to look for you together."

"I see," Arley said. "Sorry to get angry with you. Sparkette, it's nice to meet you. And Ralph, you really didn't need to worry. Being a lumberjack has made me strong."

"Even though you're so old…" Ralph murmured.

"Come on, Ralph!" Arley exclaimed. "Actually, I came here because I wanted to see what these guys were up to. They seem to need something from the monument deep in the cave. It looks like they're only investigating the monument while a rather powerful Pokemon is lured away. It doesn't look like they intend to harm the villagers right now."

"And how do you know so much about their plans?" I asked.

Before Arley could reply, Uke cried out and ran down the path. "Hey, wait!" Arley cried. He made a move to go after Uke, but it was no use. Uke was long gone. Arley sighed. "And after I told him not to…"

"So, Arley," I said. Arley turned to me. "Why wouldn't you let Uke into the monument?"

"Uh… well… the people seemed to be doing something important, so I didn't want Uke to bother them," Arley said. I was about to say something when Ralph tugged on my sleeve.

"Sparkette!" he said. "We have to go help Uke!"

I sighed. "Right. Let's keep moving. Hopefully Arley doesn't have a problem with us going to the monument."

Arley didn't say anything as Ralph and I ran past him, heading deeper into the cave. After a while, we found Uke confronting two Pinchers. Suddenly, Uke jumped onto one of the Pinchers. I could only watch as the Pincher shoved Uke off of himself, sending him flying into a wall, effectively destroying his ukulele. Uke looked like he could've burst out into tears. Poor guy…

"Hey!" I shouted, running over to the two Pinchers. "Why did you guys break Uke's ukulele?"

"Well, whatever could you be talking about?" the Pincher Uke jumped on sang. "We didn't do anything!" Sure.

"Get the Z. Z. Flyers ready!" the other Pincher said. "I can handle these brats on my own! Cranidos! Give them a taste of your headbut!"

The other Pincher held out his arm, and I readied my styler. I moved to stand in front of Ralph, protectively. Then, a Cranidos ran into the cave. However, instead of attacking me, it ran into the first Pincher.

I smirked. The first Pincher glared at me.

"Not him, you dolt!" the other Pincher said. "You're opponent is the Pokemon Ranger!"

Okay, now this was serious. The Cranidos charged at me. I was able to capture without a problem. Compared to other captures I've done, this was actually pretty easy. The Cranidos ran away. Sometime during the capture, the two Pinchers got out their flying thingys.

"You know, now that I think of it, there wasn't any real reason to fight," one of the Pinchers said.

"Are you just saying that cause I beat you?" I smirked. "Cause that's pretty lame if you ask me."

"That's not it!" the other Pincher exclaimed. "We've already got what we wanted!"

"Yeah, right!" Ralph said. "Sore loser! Cheer up, Uke! Sparkette taught the bad guys who broke your ukulele a lesson!"

Uke turned to us. He had been standing next to his broken ukulele. He smiled, but didn't really seem to be happy. I felt so bad for him…

One of the Pinchers snorted. "If we have the Emblem, there's no reason to hang around. I can't wait to tell our leader about our success! Smell ya later, Ranger!"

The two started to zoom off. "Wait!" I called. The leader they were talking about must have been Red Eyes. That meant they might've known something about Keith. "Come back here!"

The two Pinchers ignored me and continued to zoom out of the cave. They stopped when one of them flew into a female Pincher, who was flying into the cave.

"Ow!" she complained. "Watch where you're going!"

"No, you watch it!" the male who bumped into her said. "And did you forget? You're supposed to be luring Raikou away from here!" Raikou? Wasn't that a legendary Pokemon?

"I didn't forget! And you were the one who bumped into me!" the female said. "It seemed like there was a commotion at the Monument, so I came here to see what was going on!"

"Which means… Raikou is?" the other male said. All three of the Pinchers turned toward the entrance of the cave. I followed their gaze to see a giant yellow and blue Pokemon standing there. I gasped. The legendary Raikou!

Raikou let out a roar, and lept into the air. Small lightning bolts landed where he was standing. There was a giant flash of lightning, and Raikou appeared right behind the Pinchers. All three of them yelped in surprise.

"Let's get out of here!" the girl screamed.

The two boys nodded, and the three Pinchers flew away, followed by Raikou.

Ralph turned to me. "That was so awesome!" he said. "I got to see you doing a capture, and we got to meet Raikou!"

"I'm not sure if you can qualify that as meeting him," I said. "But whatever makes you happy, Ralph." Ralph grinned at me, but his smile soon faded.

"I feel bad about what happened with Uke's ukulele, though…" he said. "I wonder how we can get it fixed?"

Uke's ears suddenly perked up. He then grabbed his broken ukulele and ran out of the cave.

"Uke?" I called. "Where are you going?" I was actually pretty sad he left. Uke really helped cheer me up.

"I wouldn't worry about him too much, Sparkette," Ralph said. "Uke is a lot tougher than he looks. Let's go back to Booker's house."

"Okay," I said. Ralph and I started to walk out of the cave, but stopped when Arley walked into the cave.

"Those disrespectful simpletons," he said. "I thought they were only investigating the Monument."

I turned to see what Arley was staring at. It was a stone pedestal thing with a giant hole in the middle.

"What is that thing?" I asked.

"That is a Monument, Sparkette," Arley said. "I couldn't read it, because it was written in letters from long ago, but I've heard that something about Raikou was written on it."

"Do you think the writings had anything to do with that story, 'Raikou and the Hero of Oblivia'?" Ralph said.

Arley shrugged. "Guess it's too late to find out now." I was pretty sure I was the only one there who had no idea what was going on.

"What's 'Raikou and the Hero of Oblivia'?" I asked.

Ralph turned to me. "It's a legend I heard about from Booker," he explained. "I don't remember it that well, though. If you want more details you'll have to ask him."

I turned to Arley. Before I could even say anything, he shook his head. "I don't know that much about it, either," he said. Oh well. I made a mental reminder to ask Booker about this later.

"Hey, Sparkette!" Ralph said. "I want to thank you for driving off the Pinchers! Thanks to you, Arley didn't have to overdo it chasing those dangerous bad guys. I think Rangers would call this a Mission Clear, right? So can you do that thing for me? You know, that pose you do when you finish a Mission? Please?" I smiled. Ralph seemed very over excited about all of this. So I decided, just this once, I would do my Ranger Pose for him. He stared at me as I did my Ranger Pose, his eyes shining.

"Let's go back to the village," Arley suggested. Ralph and I nodded, and we walked back through the cave. I walked behind Ralph and Arley, not really wanting to join in on their conversations. That Mission was a complete waste. I didn't learn anything about Keith. I was no closer to finding him.

"Dr. Edward! How have you been?"

I nearly crashed into Arley as he came to a sudden stop right before the town square. Ralph also seemed shocked by his stop. Dr. Edward? Who was that?

A man turned to us, smiling. He had white hair and wore a matching white lab coat.

"Hello, Arley!" he said. "You're looking as muscular as ever. I'm impressed that you keep training daily at your age. I stepped forward to join Arley and Ralph. The man's smile flickered when he saw me.

"Oh? Who is this young person with you?" he said.

"I'm Sparkette," I said.

"She's a Pokemon Ranger!" Ralph interjected. "Isn't that awesome?"

"Yes, Rangers are quite exceptional," the man said. "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Sparkette. My name is Edward. I'm one of the only doctors in the Oblivia Region, so I travel the islands taking care of the sick and injured people."

"The pleasure is all mine, Dr. Edward," I said, smiling. "What brings you to Renbow Island?"

"Is someone around here not feeling well?" Arley asked.

Dr. Edward shook his head. Before he could speak, an elderly man standing behind him spoke up. "I can still hardly believe it, even though I saw it with my own eyes!" he said. "The Great Raikou was charging through the village! At the last second, I was able to dodge Raikou's charge, but I got this scrape."

An elderly woman paffed him. "Stop spinning lies, you," she said. "He was so surprised by Raikou's charge that his legs gave out. He only fell."

Ralph snickered, earning him a paff from me.

"More importantly, dear, when you saw the Great Raikou, was the Hero of Oblivia riding on its back?" the woman said. The Hero of Oblivia?

"Come now, woman," the man said. "Does anyone take that old legend seriously?"

"Guys, don't fight!" Ralph said. "Just be thankful you got to see Raikou!"

Suddenly, Ralph burst out into song. "A deep, deep valley blocks the way," he sang. "If you can cross, go ahead, I say. The scary valley likes to brag, 'No one can cross my rocky crags!' What nonsense speaks the silly valley? For Great Raikou, it's one bound. Hero on it's back, just one bound."

I stared at Ralph. "What was that all about?" I said.

Ralph smiled at me. "That was song that supposedly calls Raikou! Booker taught it to me!" I smiled. Ralph was adorable.

Arley cleared his throat. "Sorry to interrupt the fun," he said. "but I need to talk to Dr. Edward. My back has been hurting recently, and I was wondering if you could look at it for me."

"That's troubling," Dr. Edward said. "Okay, I'll examine it for you."

"Arley is really strong, but he's way older than you would think, so…" Ralph said. He then slapped his hand over his mouth. "Oops! I said it again!" Even Arley couldn't help but smile at Ralph as he and Dr. Edward walked away.

"Let's go back to Booker's house now," I said. Ralph nodded, and lead me back through the town. I still didn't know my way around that well.

We walked into Booker's cabin to find an unsuspected visitor in there. Uke was standing on the table, with his broken ukulele in front of him. It let out its cry. Nick had his ears covered. It looked like this had been going on for a while.

"All right, all right already!" Booker said. "I've got it, so just calm down a little!"

"Hi, Booker!" Ralph said, announcing our presence. "We're back!"

Booker turned to us. "Oh, Sparkette, Ralph!" he said. "We've been worried about you!"

"Booker, the Pinchers broke Uke's ukulele!" Ralph said. Thank you for stating the obvious.

"I can see that," Booker said. "He's been asking me to fix it."

"Boss!" Nick said. "Please fix the ukulele! Uke is driving me insane!"

"Nick, if you were listening earlier you'd know I'd love to fix it!" Booker said. "But I can't. I don't have the proper materials."

"Well then go get them!" Nick said.

"Well if you're so eager to fix this thing, how about you get them for me?" Booker suggested. "I hid them in a tree trunk on Dolce Island."

"Boss! I can't do that!" Nick said. "What if I get lost, or drop the materials into the ocean, or fall into the ocean myself, or maybe-"

"How about I go with you?" I said, cutting Nick off. That boy really annoyed me. "That way none of that stuff will happen."

Nick sighed. "Thanks, Sparkette," he said. "That way I won't run into the bad guys on the island, and they can't kidnap me like they did to-" Um, no.

"Nick!" I shouted. "Are we going or not? Because I'd like to leave today."

Nick laughed feebly. "Sorry," he said. "Let's go. I'll lead the way." I nodded, and followed Nick out of the cabin. Ralph decided to stay with Booker and Uke.

Nick lead me to a small boat tied up to a dock. We climbed onto it, and rode across the strait to reach Dolce Island. We walked through the island and stopped in the clearing where I first met Uke.

"It should be somewhere around here…" Nick mussed. He looked around the clearing. "Ah! Here we go!" He walked over to a large, hollow tree trunk. "The materials for the ukulele should be in here."

"Great!" I said. "Can you get it?"

Nick nodded. "Just watch my back," he said. "If there's a horrible trap in there, and the trap turns out to be some sticky odd fluid, and I touch it out of curiosity with my toe despite my gut instinct, and then-"

"Nick. Stop," I said.

"Sorry," he said. Nick took a few steps away from the tree. "What's required here is not imagination, but… the ability to jump! Here I go!"

Nick charged at the stump, and leapt into it. I smiled, thinking about my friend Brook back in Pueltown. He had his trademarked 'Super Brook Jump.'

"How did you like my jump?" Nick's voice called. "Wasn't is something?"

"Yeah," I said, smiling. "It was pretty impressive."

"I found it!" Nick said. "Hold on a second… hey, what's this around my feet? It feels rather rough…"

Suddenly, Nick screamed. Very loudly. I took a few steps backwards, startled. "Nick? What's going on?"

Nick didn't reply. Instead, he leapt out of the tree trunk, followed by six yellow plant like Pokemon. Sunkern.

"Nick what did you do?" I asked, stepping away from the Pokemon.

"I don't know!" Nick said. "Please help!" I sighed, and readied my styler. I don't know why I was so worried about this capture. It only took one loop to capture all six Pokemon. I then released them, and Nick slumped onto the ground.

"Phew!" he sighed. "I'm glad that's over with. I think I must've stepped on them when they were napping in the tree."

"Good job, Nick," I said. "Did you at least get the materials?"

"Yep!" Nick said, cheerfully. He stood back up. "Let's go fix Uke's ukulele!" I smiled. Finally. We walked back down the path, but before we could reach the beach Nick stopped me.

"Did you see that, Sparkette?" he asked. When I didn't reply, he said, "The wireless tower just flashed."

"The wireless tower?" I repeated. "What's that?"

Nick pointed across the water, over to Renbow Island. "Do you see that purple-ish building near the summit?" he asked. I nodded. The building actually kinda looked like Altru Tower, but it had a large antenna at the top. "I think I just saw something flash a few times on the antenna," Nick said. "I wonder what it was. On no!" Great. "Could it be? What if Booker got mad at me for taking so long, so he climbed up the Wireless Tower and is giving me a scolding with signals from a mirror, or-"

"Nick. That's ridiculous, and you know it," I said, cutting Nick off for the fourth time today. "Let's hurry and deliver the ukulele materials."

Nick nodded, and we walked back to the beach. Dolce Island was really pretty. I wondered why it was uninhabited. Nick actually remembered to tie the boat to the dock, so we were able to get back without a problem. Ralph, Booker, and Uke were still waiting for us in the cabin. Uke was still freaking out over his ukulele.

Ralph's face lit up when I walked through the door. "Sparkette! Nick! You're back! Thank goodness! Uke is driving us insane!"

I smiled. "Good to know we're appreciated," I joked. Ralph laughed feebly. I kinda wished Ralph came with Nick and I. I was surprised I was able to survive spending time alone with Nick.

Nick handed the materials to Booker. Finally, he would be able to fix the ukulele. Uke started bouncing around the room happily.

"Thank you for all your hard work, you two!" Booker said, casually dodging the bouncing Pichu. "Nick, would you like to try fixing the ukulele?"

Nick's face lit up. "Do you really mean it? You'd let me give it a shot?" he said. Booker nodded. "Thank you! You won't regret this!" Nick took the materials back from Booker, and took the ukulele over to a small work table. Booker turned back to me.

"It should take some time to fix the ukulele," he said. "How about exploring Cocona Village in the meantime?"

"I could show you around!" Ralph said, excited.

"Thank you for the offer," I said. "But I'd rather just take the time to relax for a while."

"Okay…" Ralph sighed. "Come and find me if you change your mind! I'm gonna go play with Tina and Frank!"

I smiled as the boy ran out of the cabin, excited. I started to walk out of the house as well when Booker stopped me.

"Sparkette," he said. "I understand that you've been going through a lot recently. I just want you to know that you're not alone. All of us here on Renbow Island are here to support you. If you ever need anything, don't hesitate to tell us."

I forced a smile. "Thanks, Booker," I said. "Come and find me when Nick finishes fixing the ukulele."

Booker nodded, and I walked out of the cabin. The sun was setting over the horizon. I walked over to sit on the edge of the dock. I stared off into the sunset. The last time I saw something as spectacular as this was during Operation Brighton last year, when the Shadow Crystal turned into the Luminous Crystal. Keith had been with me then. I wondered where he was now. I couldn't stop thinking about him. And whenever I did, I felt like I was going to cry. Why did I feel this way? I had never felt like that before. I didn't even feel this way when another really close friend of mine got kidnapped by Team Dim Sun. So why was Keith different? I didn't even think I would feel this way if Rhythmi got kidnapped, and she was a really good friend as well. So why? I had been faking smiles for everyone, trying to convince them I was alright. But I really wasn't. I wouldn't be alright until I found Keith. I didn't know how much more of this I could deal with. Keith could've been anywhere, and I had done nothing to help him. I failed him.

Tears started streaming down my face silently. "Keith… I'm so sorry." I sobbed, burying my face into my hands.

Suddenly, there was a small cry from somewhere behind me. I turned to see Uke sitting behind me. He had his ukulele back, so I assumed Nick managed to fix it.

"Hey, Uke," I said, forcing a smile. "I'm glad you got your ukulele fixed." Uke walked over to me. He sat down in my lap, and started playing his ukulele. It kind of sounded like he was trying to play the song Ralph was singing earlier. However, he was playing it very badly. But I didn't care. I also didn't have to force my smile anymore. Uke was adorable.

I sat there, listening to Uke's song. I sniffled, wiping away my tears. Uke stopped playing and looked up at me.

"No, you can keep playing," I said. "It's nice." Uke nodded, and went back to his song. I sat there, watching the sun set as Uke played his song. When he finished, I clapped. Uke did a little bow. I smiled widely.

"Thanks, Uke," I said. The Pokemon stared at me and tilted his head. Pretending I knew what he was trying to say, I continued, "Thanks for trying to cheer me up. Even though you're probably as sad as I am. I mean, the Pinchers did capture all of your friends."

Uke snuggled into my lap. I petted his head. "You know, we're actually pretty similar. The Pinchers took someone very important from me as well."

I used my free hand to show Uke my necklace. He stared at it, intrigued by it's shininess. "This was a present from him," I explained. "His name is Keith. I know you haven't met him, but I bet you'll like him. He's really nice, funny, caring, and he's a complete idiot. He's also my closest friend. He means the world to me. And… and I can't live without him."

I started crying again. I couldn't help myself. I really missed him. I held Uke tightly. He snuggled up against me, and licked my cheek. I smiled.

"Hey, Uke," I said. He looked up at me. "How would you like to travel with me? You can help me find Keith, and I can help you find your friends. I think it would be better to travel with a friend."

Uke smiled at me and nodded. I smiled as well, and leapt to my feet, still holding Uke. "Then it's settled!" I said. "Starting tomorrow, we are going to work together to find Keith!" Uke let out its cry, excited. Uke was also going to help cheer me up. Because I was really going to need it.


End file.
